# Fan for your Humi



## xixon (Mar 31, 2012)

I have a 40 box humidor (26" high, 21"w, 23' deep) with 2 shelfs and a top drawer for singles. The humidity can vary by a few % from the top to bottom, so I'm thinking a a PC fan run by a transformer from an old cordless phone.

Most PC fans are 12v-DC and draw between 100ma to 350ma of current (Amps). They vary in size from a small CPU fan of 40mm to large case fans of 250mm. I'm thinking the 120mm would be best but they vary from 1000 to 3000 RPM and from 60 to 120 CFM as well as dB (noise levels)

Question..... the transformer I have is 9vDC and 500 ma...and the spec on most fans is 12vDC and no more than 350ma.....would this transformer is a bad choice..would the extra amperage burn out the fan?
I think the lower voltage (9V) would make it run a bit slower but my concern is the current.

Any recomendations on size and RPM and/or brand name would be best for humi air circulation?


----------



## avrus (Sep 19, 2011)

I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this myself as I was thinking of putting a low RPM 140mm fan in my new cabinet humidor.


----------



## Dual-500 (Feb 20, 2012)

First a questiion. I assume your setup to be 26"x21"x23". I run 12V computer fans for a couple of applications. Inside my wine cooler / humidor or wineador and also use them for cooling the amplifiers in the equipment rack for my HT system.

In the humidor I use a 80mm fan on a Zalman speed controller that is powered off of the 12V 1A rated wall power supply that came with the Hydra humidifier that I use in the winter months.

AS 12V DC power supplies are plentiful and inexpensive, that is what you want - get one rated at 1A or more depending upon how much you want to spend. Also get some fan extension cables and a inline type fan speed controller made for computers. I changed the connector on the power supply to standard 3 pin type that's on the 12V computer fans. Makes it easy to hook things up that way.

~55 cfm is what I'm using currently. I started with a 120 mm fan and changed it to an 80 mm as it's now recessed in the bottom of the 7 drawer humidor to optimize space under the humidor for kitty litter and the Hydra SM.

The reason for the speed controller is to dial the air flow to exactly what I want. With a 80 MM .3A fan inside a 28 bottle wine cooler, with 7 drawer humidor in it, there is more than enough circulation so I keep it turned down via the speed controller.

Rationale was a larger power supply than needed will run cooler and last longer if the load capacity is low, more fan than needed allows for it to be turned down so it's quiet.

Fan runs all the time. Fans, speed controllers, and power supplies purchased at Newegg.


----------



## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

Dual-500 said:


> Rationale was a larger power supply than needed will run cooler and last longer if the load capacity is low, more fan than needed allows for it to be turned down so it's quiet.


Agreed, it should work fine with no real draw on the unit


----------



## avrus (Sep 19, 2011)

Dual-500 said:


> In the humidor I use a 80mm fan on a Zalman speed controller that is powered off of the 12V 1A rated wall power supply that came with the Hydra humidifier that I use in the winter months.


I have a couple hydras in my cabinet so I may not need the additional fan but I wonder if you could power an 80mm off the auxillary fan ports on the hydra unit.


----------



## xixon (Mar 31, 2012)

avrus said:


> I have a couple hydras in my cabinet so I may not need the additional fan but I wonder if you could power an 80mm off the auxillary fan ports on the hydra unit.


yes I would think you could, or go check out the website at heartfeltindustries for a fan for your unit


----------



## Johnpaul (Aug 15, 2011)

That 9v transformer would work just fine for that application. A transformer only has any issues if you try to pull more current than it is designed to supply not less. Also 12v computer fans have no problems running on 9v (they run at a slower rpm however) As for a 120mm fan recommend I personally would go with this - Newegg.com - Vantec Stealth 120mm Double Ball Bearing Silent Case Fan - Model SF12025L as it is quiet and very reliable. With that particular fan and slowing it down by running it at 9v I don't think you would want/need any type of speed controller. They also make it in a 80 and 92mm variant. Just make sure you are ordering a "stealth" and not their other model as it sounds like a jet taking off. I think a lot of people have their fans set up to pull a lot more air than they need.

Alternatively you can get something like this - Newegg.com - Antec 761345-75120-9 120mm Case Fan and it has a three speed controller built in. My experience with the Antec fans are that they are very good but not quite as quiet as the vantec stealth.


----------



## Dual-500 (Feb 20, 2012)

avrus said:


> I have a couple hydras in my cabinet so I may not need the additional fan but I wonder if you could power an 80mm off the auxillary fan ports on the hydra unit.


I run mine directly off of the power supply, split ahead of the Hydra SM. However, that was just to simplify wiring and use common computer fan splitters, etc. The fan port on the Hydra SM is rated to run axillary fans as well as an auxillary Hydra SM unit. I've used the fan port with the Hydra external fan splitter and it worked fine.

Yes, it will work fine.


----------



## RealSRS (Feb 13, 2012)

Amazon.com: USB Powered Dual Fan Universal Folding Laptop Cooling Pad - Adjustable to fit all size notebooks: Computers & Accessories

I bought this, broke off the plastic legs. Plugged it straight into my old usb cell phone charger. Then I bought a analog wall timer

Amazon.com: Intermatic TN311C 120 Volt Heavy Duty Grounded Timer: Electronics

Plug my humidor into the analog wall timer. Fan only kicks on for an hour (digital ones allow smaller time increments, analog ones are typically 30 min intervals)

Pretty simple plug and play solution. If anyone is interested I can snap a quick picture. PM me


----------



## Dual-500 (Feb 20, 2012)

Something to consider. I assume this setup is somewhat new and you are tweaking it. I switched from a couple of ~150-200 count table top humidors with passive humidification elements to a 28 bottle thermoelectric wine cooler with a 7 drawer humidor inside the end of last year. I went that direction after reading a couple of threads on guys that had built the wine cooler solution. One gent made a good point of "Plug and play" or not doing too much modification to the cooler such as lining it and such. I liked that concept, so if the cooler, or really I should say, when the cooler dies, everything can be moved to a new host cooler in about 2 minutes.

During the initial setup I did some testing with the Hydra SM running inside the cooler all by itself. Then introduced the empty humidor to the equation and did some more testing and made some changes to the fan setup and how it was controlled. What I'm saying is I didn't just buy some fans and install them and was finished. I started with a 120mm fan running with a diode inline with it which ended up around 40 cfm. Then did some monitoring with calibrated hygrometers inside the humidor and outside the humidor within the wine cooler. Where it ended up is with a 80mm fan, with the speed controller, adjusted to the lowest setting.

My setup has ~$2000 worth of inventory inside it and the basic philosophy for the wine cooler build was for a cost effective solution, but not to pinch pennines on the setup. The fan is rated at 47 cfm at full speed and cost ~$8.00 and the controller was ~6.99. The Zalman inline speed controller is rated to control a 12V DC source from 5V to 11V +-2%.

My thoughts on internal humidor air flow are it takes whatever it takes for any given setup to maintain consistent environmental conditions for the cigars. I use the minimum air flow to get the job done. Having full control over the fan speed is a plus. It took a bit of testing to find the sweet spot in my setup.


----------



## avrus (Sep 19, 2011)

Dual-500 said:


> I run mine directly off of the power supply, split ahead of the Hydra SM. However, that was just to simplify wiring and use common computer fan splitters, etc. The fan port on the Hydra SM is rated to run axillary fans as well as an auxillary Hydra SM unit. I've used the fan port with the Hydra external fan splitter and it worked fine.
> 
> Yes, it will work fine.


Thanks for the feedback. For now I've moved one hydra to the bottom of the tower and the other several shelves up to try and regular air flow a bit. I've got 2 units at different levels measuring the humidity to make sure there's no big gaps. If it becomes an issue I'll install additional fans.


----------

